Walmart: ‘Going to a very dark place’

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NEW YORK — Walmart may not go the way of RadioShack any time soon. But Goldman Sachs says that customers are abandoning the big-box pioneer in droves.

On Tuesday, the investment bank downgraded Walmart’s stock to ‘Neutral,’ saying that big-box stores are losing out to online retailers and stores with more focused inventories.

With $115 billion in annual sales, Walmart isn’t quite going out of business, but the retailer has seen sales slip for five straight quarters. Online shopping is clearly hurting the store, as more customers turn to Amazon and other merchants for everyday items such as hardware and groceries.

E-commerce is making Walmart’s vast breadth of merchandise less appealing to shoppers. Instead, customers are looking for better deals on a more narrow assortment of goods available at stores like Costco and dollar stores The bank upgraded Costco’s stock to Buy.

Goldman noted that Amazon’s move into grocery sales is the biggest threat facing Walmart and a risk to Costco.

Despite the bank’s pessimism about big-box retailers, maintained a ‘Buy” rating on Target.

Walmart grew to be the world’s largest retailer by promising the lowest prices and getting shoppers to pick up things like screwdrivers or towels on a whim when they came in for cold medicine. Today, though, Walmart’s customers are “rationing” purchases and checking the store’s prices against Web-based stores, according to Brian Sozzi, CEO of Belus Capital Advisors.

“They’re very week-to-week focused because their incomes haven’t grown,” Sozzi said. “I view Walmart as going to a very, very dark place in the next 5 to 10 years.”

Goldman’s note came days after Walmart named a new head for its U.S. division.

Also, Dollar Tree announced on Monday that it would buy rival Family Dollar, potentially creating an even more powerful rival for consumer dollars.

Yes, Jason Anderson. Thank you! Funny (though not surprising, as it’s a CNN Money story, not a human interest piece) that no mention is made of the possible impact Wal**art’s total lack of corporate social responsibility and their unprecedented self-defeating & local/global-community-destroying corporate greed has made on shoppers’ choices to shop elsewhere.

John

As if what Goldman Sachs thinks is the gospel truth?? Just another Walmart bashing article by people who hate Walmart because?? Gee , people shop there? Target with all of it’s security problems and Whole Foods ripping off customers by over charging them, yeah Walmart is going the way of radio shack ?? Haha laughable…